Weekly Study Questions: Sermon on the Mount #7
The Lord’s Prayer
Sermon on the Mount (CGS#7) – Matt. 6:5-15
INTRODUCTION: The Sermon on the Mount is often referred to as the most famous sermon in the world. And, within the sermon, we find the most famous prayer in the world, the Lord’s Prayer. Some of us grew up in denominations and traditions that recited the Lord’s Prayer every Sunday. For others, it was a familiar but occasional prayer to recite. Either way, anyone who has grown up in church is familiar with the Lord’s Prayer. Even for those who didn’t grow up in church, this prayer is so famous that there is often a familiarity with it and with its speaker, Jesus.
To understand the Lord’s Prayer, we need to understand the context of prayer in the world of Jesus. Prayer was an incredibly common thing in the first century. So much so that Jesus gives two negative references for prayer that his audience would have completely understood. The first has to do with the religious elite of Judaism. For the Scribes and Pharisees, prayer was a matter of public performance. They would have prayed loudly for others to hear. They would have prayed, standing with eyes open and looking up towards heaven. In fact, if you go to Jerusalem today, you will see devout Jewish men and women praying in a similar fashion at the Western Wall. The interesting thing about Jesus’s description is that he refers to them as hypocrites. This is a word that refers to someone who is an actor or pretender. Think of your favorite movie star; they play a character, but they aren’t that character in real life. This is what Jesus is saying about the religious elite who pray loudly and to be seen. They are pretenders and are not experiencing a genuine prayer life. Then, Jesus refers to the Gentiles who also pray loudly and with many words. But they do this so that their fickle and vengeful gods might actually listen and pay attention to them. Jesus says, when you pray don’t be like either of these groups.
Why? Because as Jesus teaches and models, that pray is supposed to be an act of communion with God. Intimate, personal, and without any pretense or pomp. We’ve heard this quote from Tim Keller before, and it is worth reading again, “We must know the awe of praising his glory, the intimacy of finding his grace, and the struggle of asking his help, all of which can lead us to know the spiritual reality of his presence. Prayer, then, is both awe and intimacy, struggle and reality. These will not happen every time we pray, but each should be a major component of our prayer over the course of our lives.”[1] Awe and struggle are the two very things that Jesus invites us into in the Lord’s Prayer. Awe that God is our Father and that he is concerned for us. Awe that God’s will for our lives is good and that he would supply our needs in accordance with it. Awe that God would be willing and merciful to forgive us. Struggle that we can bring the very real needs physical, emotional, and spiritual to God. Struggle that even as we’ve been forgiven, we are to forgive. But that is hard, and we need to ask for God’s help. Struggle that our spirit is willing to fight sin, but our flesh is weak. The Lord’s Prayer invites us into communion with God in both awe and struggle. Prayer in this perspective actually invites us into something much deeper and more life-defining than a mere public performance or the desperate attempt to gain the attention of a fickle god. It is genuine communion with the God of the universe who tells us that he is our Father. What we come to experience in the end is that prayer invites me to encounter the world through God’s eyes and heart.
GETTING STARTED – As a group, take time to answer this question. Jesus’ prayer life stood out to the disciples. Who is someone in your life (past or present) that has a prayer life that stands out to you, and why?
IN THE WORD – Let’s dig back into the passage(s). It is important to strengthen our muscles in reading God’s Word. On Sunday, we walked through the passage in the sermon. Hopefully, that helped you to see the landmarks of the passage with fresh eyes. Now, with your group, go back through it and see what God is saying to you specifically.
First, before you read the passage, take a moment to ask God’s Spirit to quiet your mind and heart and to illuminate the text to you. Second, read the passage aloud to the group. Then, follow the simple method below. (O.P.A)
Observe: Make 8-10 observations from the passage. Pay close attention to observe and note repeated words and phrases, names, places, and themes.
Principles: From your list of observations, what patterns or big ideas do you see emerging? Can you distill it down into 2-4 big idea truths?
Apply: Moving from your list of principles, it is time to apply God’s Word. Remember, we believe that God’s Word is living and active and that it can change the way we live Monday- Friday. What is one tangible way to apply a truth from your list above?
Note: Another way to approach your time together is to talk through the following questions.
- What did you hear God’s Spirit say to you through the passage this week? How does it encourage you? How does it sharpen you?
- How have you seen God at work in your life this week? Have you enjoyed him? Have you heard his voice and the leading of his Spirit? Big ways or small ways.
- What about Jesus’ words in this passage stand out to you? How do they challenge you? How do they encourage you?
- When Jesus tells us to call God Father, he is reminding us of the intimate and personal nature of our relationship with God. When you think of your relationship with God, do you tend to operate as if God is personally concerned for you or that God is distant?
- Why do you think that forgiveness is such an important value to Jesus in this section? Is there a statement in the beatitudes (Matt. 5:1-12) that might help you to answer that? What is easy and what is difficult about forgiveness?
- When you pray, what does your typical prayer life look like? What is an intentional step to take this week in engaging with God in prayer?
[1] Timothy Keller, Prayer-Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God. (2014) p. 5